1987, Sydney were fined the maximum of $60,000 and forfeited their first round pick in the National Draft after a VFL investigation found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $1.15 million during the season.

1992, Sydney were fined $50,000 after it was found that they had failed to disclose payments made to former player Greg Williams during the 1990 season; Williams was suspended for six matches and fined the maximum of $25,000 for accepting the payments.

1994, Carlton were fined $50,000 after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $85,000 during the 1993 season.

1995, Sydney were fined $20,000 after key documents relating to player financial details and star full-forward Tony Lockett's contract details were lost in the post by club officials, forcing the club, who had won the last three wooden spoons, to scratch from the 1995 pre-season draft and play the season two players short. The club officials responsible were fired by the Swans one week later.

1996, Essendon were fined a record $638,250 ($250,000 in back tax and penalties, $112,000 for draft tampering and $276,250 for breaching the salary cap regulations), forfeited their first, second and third round picks in the National Draft and were excluded from the 1997 rookie and pre-season drafts after a joint Australian Tax Office and AFL investigation found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations totalling $514,500 between 1991 and 1996.

1998, the West Coast Eagles were fined $100,000 and forfeited their third round pick in the National Draft after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by a total of $165,000 during the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Geelong were fined $77,000 in 1998 and excluded from the 1999 pre-season draft after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $154,000 during the 1997 season.

1999, Melbourne were fined $600,000 and forfeited their first, second and third round picks in the National Draft for two years after it was found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations totalling $810,000 between 1995 and 1998.

Deal Done

FREE AGENT DEALS

Chris Knights (Adelaide): Signed with Richmond

Brendon Goddard (St Kilda): Signed with Essendon

Quinten Lynch (West Coast): Signed with Collingwood

Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide): Signed with Fremantle

Troy Chaplin (Port Adelaide): Signed with Richmond

Shannon Byrnes (Geelong): Signed with Melbourne

Brent Moloney (Melbourne) : Signed with Brisbane

Tom Murphy (Hawthorn): Signed with Gold Coast

Jared Rivers (Melbourne):Signed with Geelong

Clinton Young (Hawthorn): Signed with Collingwood

Tom Gillies (Geelong): Signed with Melbourne

Jonathan Simpkin (Geelong): Signed with Hawthorn

2001, Carlton were fined $125,150, forfeited their second and third round picks in the 2001 National Draft and were excluded from the 2002 pre-season draft after it was found that they had failed to disclose payments totaling $239,900 to captain Craig Bradley and incorrectly lodged an additional services agreement document during the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

2002, Carlton were fined a record $987,500 and forfeited their priority picks in the National Draft, their first and second round picks in the National Draft for two years and were excluded from the 2003 pre-season draft after an AFL investigation found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations totaling $1.37 million between 1998 and 2001.

2003, Brisbane were fined $260,000 for late lodgement of documents relating to the contract and financial details of 26 players.

The worst case in Australian sport in recent time was the Melbourne Storm in the NRL. They were found to have cheated the salary cap for a total of five years and were stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships and 2006, 2007 and 2009 minor premierships, and were sentenced to finish the 2010 NRL season (of which 75% was still to be played) in last place. In addition to being fined $1.689 million.

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